Times are hard without gigs

Northumberland musician Derek Allan, of We Steal Flyers, continues his weekly diary.
Derek and Ellie Allan pictured at St Abbs, in Scotland, on the second day of their walk.Derek and Ellie Allan pictured at St Abbs, in Scotland, on the second day of their walk.
Derek and Ellie Allan pictured at St Abbs, in Scotland, on the second day of their walk.

August 12

Warkworth to Cresswell was amazing on our walk.

Stephen and Rebecca Shanks cycled to see us on the cold, wet walk heading into Amble. They went on ahead, ordered us chips, and then paid for them, how kind.

We got chips and went to the bus shelter at Hauxley to hide from the weather, as we do all year.

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Sadly, a young boy fell off his bike and the shelter was the hospital until he was ok again. We were pleased he was ok as we ate chips out in the rain on the seat nearby.

My walking buddy Shaun joined us for the last mile, which was a perfect end as he is doing the next big charity walk with us, Coast To Coast.

A few friends and family were at the end. It was the perfect ending to the walk when Ellie, once again, got her ice cream.

One hundred miles walked and £1,090 raised. Thank you everyone.

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It was a shame writing so little here about so much, but you can find the book on Amazon from October.

August 13

A few gigs were cancelled this week as I walked, but there was not much I could do.

It means no Alton Towers these summer holidays sadly, and my phone broke on Monday, but this is all a part of life.

We were dropped off at Durham and watched another great game of cricket in the sun, then home again, ready to get back to work on gigs.

August 14

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There’s still a whole week off gigs to accommodate Shaggy’s holidays.

We were offered a gig with The Quireboys this week. It would have been on Friday at a festival down South. I love that band. We get offered such a lot gigs that we cannot take them all.

Melanie was still busy with admin today. She wrote out the posters for up and coming gigs and posted them off.

We watched Short Circuit today, there’s so many films to try to see when we can.

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Durham under 11s cricket was a brilliant few hours this evening. The one-and-a-half hours in traffic to arrive was not so good. It only took 45 minutes to get home.

It was a great day training for Ellie and I got to talk to one of the other dads, Paul Collingwood. He captained England when we won the world cup and is captain of Durham.

August 15

One of the things Ellie and Rebecca wanted was a whole day on the beach – breakfast, dinner and tea, so we went.

We made a massive sandcastle. It was actually too windy to spend an hour there so 10 hours was secretly a little too much for Mel and I. They even splashed and danced in the cold sea.

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I did no work and got some reading done. I’m still reading Charley Boorman.

August 16

I was up at 7am today to get as much work done as I could before everyone else woke.

Today was the first day in ages in the house, and I think the only one of the holiday. It is a strange feeling not having to go anywhere. It was good fun – music, films, books and board games.

August 17

Today was the first time Durham did a night test match. It was strange as the times seemed all wrong to me after a lifetime of 11am starts.

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I love to get to hear David Gower, Mike Atherton, Mike Holding, David Lloyd, and so on. Cricket keeps me calm.

We have run out of money now, we need to gig.

August 18

We went out for short walk today. We’re trying to save up and get a day where we can walk Kielder Lake, 26 miles, with Ellie and Shaun.